Discussion

John Frank gone? What happened?

Yesterday, after we rolled out of the chowhound dim sum fest, we went to the 24th Street Cheese shop to pick up a few goodies for a Sunday evening gathering at our house. We drove by John Frank (Market & Church). The name on the building was painted over. The windows were papered. On the paper was "On January 11th, we will be HOME".

What's up with that? When did this happen? I thought John Frank was successful, it always seemed busy.

Has anyone heard any rumors about this supposed new restaurant "HOME"? Who opens a new restaurant in the slowest month of the year in a recession? Hell, I'm going on Friday, if only to gawk.

Here's the Scoop!!! Yes Jonfrank has closed!! It will metamorphose into "Home"..same owner, same chef(I forgot his name, he was at Dankos) anyway his new premise is to serve food he cooks his friends and family at Home... hence the new name. The prices will be lessened, and the poop brown and black color scheme is history. They reopen on Friday Jan. 11th. Anyone interested in trying it out?

Hmm, that whole conceit: "The inside scoop on what Real Chefs cook at home!" bugs me. I have known quite a lot of chefs, and good chefs, real chefs, spend so much time at their restaurants that they don't really cook at home, at least not often enough to base a whole restaurant on such a theme. The books, magazine articles, tv shows, etc. that purport to give the rest of us inside information about chefs' home cooking seems like just another marketing gimmick.

This new incarnation of JohnFrank may well be good, but (sigh) I'm sick of the fake homeyness passed off by people who don't actually live that way.

I have a friend that is a chef in another city. Recently we visited them, they had a box of White Castle burgers in their freezer. I mentioned that next time, we would stay elsewhere so as not to wear out our welcome. He said - No way, you have to stay with us 'cause when you're here, we eat well because we actually cook. - I got the idea that when he's alone he just eats straight out of the fridge or whatever bits he's brought home from the restaurant.

Rochelle,Now I've heard you describe some of the things you cook at home and it goes well beyond toasted cheese sandwiches! Altho, I bet you make a mean one of those. Hope we cross paths again soon at a chowhound dinner or at work.

Actually, although I think it would be wise for GraceAnn to read Chowhound, her column was probably written a week or at least several days before it ran--certainly before the postings here. Newspapers have shorter lead times than magazine, but columnists still have to get their stuff in with time for editing, layout, printing, distribution, etc. Also, non-news sections, like food and gardening, are usually printed first, since they're not as time-sensitive as news, which means longer lead time too.